The Marvel Family were created by the writer Otto Binder and artists C. C. Beck, Mac Raboy, Ed Herron and Marc Swayze. They were intended to build on the popularity of Captain Marvel and first appeared in issue #18 of Captain Marvel Adventures, published by Fawcett Comics in 1942.

This meant that Captain Marvel was the first superhero to have a team of sidekicks who share his powers and appearance.

The main characters are Captain Marvel (real name Billy Batson) with his tag line the 'World's Mightiest Mortal', Mary Marvel who is Captain Marvel's twin sister and Captain Marvel Jr. who is Billy's friend, Freddy Freeman.

The Marvel Family were a big hit with the public, but in 1953, publication ceased primarily, due to a lawsuit brought by DC Comics against Fawcett claiming copyright infringement with their character Superman.

A licensing deal signed by DC Comics in 1972, meant that the Marvel Family were once again in print, this time in a series called 'Shazam!'.Since then there have been various attempts at relaunching what was once a highly successful franchise.

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